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Friday, December 27th 2024

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Tagged Pages Archive | South Ashia

2015
23
November
Black Friday Deal: Vancouver to China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Pakistan - $541 CAD to $715 CAD roundtrip including taxes

A tarsier in the Philippines

It looks like Air China is planning to offer some crazy prices on a few seats from Vancouver to cities in China, SE Asia, India, and Pakistan over the upcoming Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend.

Think of it as a bit of a door-crasher for airfares. This is actually quite rare for an airline to do. Many airlines (and travel agencies) will jump on the Black Friday / Cyber Monday promotional marketing bandwagon and *pretend* to have sales, but true door-crasher price levels are relatively non-existent in travel from what I've seen over the years.

It *appears* that it will work like this...

Black Friday, Nov 27

On Friday, Nov 27 Air China will drop the price of their Vancouver to Shanghai, China (PVG) and Manila, Philippines (MNL) flights down to $597 CAD and $541 CAD roundtrip including taxes, respectively.

It looks like there will only be 4 seats available from Vancouver to each destination. If this is true (and they're not just trying to create a frenzy), it means that the available seats will likely go *fast* once the fares are loaded.

(Update: It appears that maybe Air China meant 4 seats per *flight* as there appears to be way more than 4 people reporting to have booked this).

The available date range for travel will be between November 27, 2015 and March 26, 2016.

Saturday, Nov 28

And then on Saturday, Nov 28 - It will be the exact same thing, but Air China will drop the price from Vancouver to Chengdu, China (CTU) and Bangkok, Thailand (BKK) down to $597 CAD and $554 CAD roundtrip including taxes.

Update #1: Bangkok is live! Here are the working date combinations as of 7:49 AM PST

Dec 26 to Jan 12 or 13
Dec 28, 30, 31 to Jan 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Jan 3, 6,7, 8, 9 to Jan 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23
Jan 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 to Jan 24
Jan 24, 25, 26 to Feb 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Feb 10, 11, 12 to Feb 21, 22, 23, 24, 26
Feb 14, 17, or 18 to Feb 29 or March 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
March 1, 2, or 3 to March 15
March 7, 8, or 10 to March 15 or 17 (nothing past this)

Try mixing and matching the departure and return dates for longer trips.

Update #2: Bangkok dates that are still working when searching for 2 passengers (as of 12:15 PM PST)

Dec 31 to Jan 13 or 14
Jan 7 to 18, 21, 22
Jan 13 to 23

Sunday, Nov 29

And then on Sunday, Nov 29 - It's Vancouver to Fuzhou, China (FOC) and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (SGN) that will drop to $597 CAD and $554 CAD roundtrip including taxes.

Cyber Monday, Nov 30

And lastly, on Cyber Monday, Nov 30 - it's Vancouver to ...

Guangzhou or Canton, China (CAN) - $597 CAD roundtrip including taxes
Delhi, India (DEL) - $686 CAD roundtrip including taxes
Mumbai (Bombay), India (BOM) - $640 CAD roundtrip including taxes
Karachi, Pakistan (KHI) - $715 CAD roundtrip including taxes.

How To Find And Book These Fares

1. Go to the following promotional page on the Air China website...

https://www.airchina.ca/CA/GB/promotion/travel-product/?CAMPAIGN_ID=CA_EN_BlackFriday&pid=TP-BlackFriday%3A20151123%3AKV%3ACAMP%3ACA%3AEN

You will want to be on this page the moment that Air China drops their fares, as the seats will no doubt be snapped up quickly.

At this time, it is unclear exactly what time Air China will be dropping the fares. It's probably best to assume that it will be on Thursday, November 26 at 11:59 PM EST.

UPDATE #1: Tried numerous times before and after midnight, but so far there's no indication that these fares have ever become available.

UPDATE #2: These prices have become available as of 7:30 AM PST.

screenshot from AirChina.ca


You can also find them with a search on Kayak.

example: Vancouver to Manila - mid to late January

Dates right around peak Christmas travel dates do not look to be available. The closest seems to be December 26 or 27 to January 11. Other than that, the availability seems to be very wide open right up to the end of March 2016.

I've also heard from numerous people in Vancouver about being able to book this, suggesting that there are definitely more than 4 total seats available. Maybe Air China meant 4 seats per flight, not total?

2. Scroll down to the very bottom of the promotional page and search for your fares. Use dates between November 27, 2015 and March 26, 2016 when you search. My guess is that Christmas dates will be blacked out, but who knows.

screenshot of the Black Friday promo deal from the Air China website:



Where to stay in China, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, or India?

The following AirBNB links will lead you to some great deals on places to stay in Shanghai, Manila, Bangkok, Fuzhou, Ho Chi Minh, Guangzhou, Delhi, or Mumbai for under $39-$59 CAD/night for 2 people.

AirBNB in Shanghai, China - 300+ listings for under $55 CAD/night

AirBNB in Manila, Philippines - 300+ listings for under $59 CAD/night

AirBNB in Fuzhou, China - 35 listings for under $49 CAD/night

AirBNB in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - 300+ listings for under $59 CAD/night

AirBNB in Guangzhou, China - 300+ listings for under $54 CAD/night

AirBNB in Delhi, India - 300+ listings for under $39 CAD/night

AirBNB in Mumbai (Bombay), India - 300+ listings for under $49 CAD/night

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